Even though people say zombies are a cliché and are
overdone, that’s not stopping people from contributing to this genre. I’ve
started to write my own zombie story, but it’ll be a little while before it’s
finished. For this WIP, I did a bit of research and found a lot Do’s and Dont’s
that zombie fans feel can make or break a zombie story.

Here they are:

- Do consider how the zombies are made (virus, nuclear
leak, disease (rats), a curse, voodoo, etc.)

- Do mention the smell. You characters should be able to
smell zombies coming, not just hear them. These are dead, rotting bodies we are talking about.

- Do show us how your characters survive, get food, and find shelter.

- Do consider hygiene (soap, toilet paper).

- Do have your characters perform first aid whenever they
have an injury. Even a scratch.

- Do consider the sewage system. No electricity and no water
means no flushing toilets.

- Do give your characters a water purifying/filtration
system. No fresh water supply will cause illnesses.

- Do include children characters. Kids won’t just vanish.

- Do mention pets and animals. Not just rats, maggots, and
bugs.

- Do have your characters stock up on ammo.

Image from Pixabay

- Don’t make it so easy for your character to get ammo or
guns, though. Are the owners of these gun shops not hunkering down with their
abundance of weapons? I would, and I wouldn’t let anyone near them.

- Don’t add criminal gangs or evil armies. Both have been
done way too much.

QUESTIONS: Can you think of any zombie Do’s and Dont’s? Do
you like zombie entertainment? What’s your favorite form of zombie
entertainment?

Mine is The Walking Dead, but I also love the Resident Evil movies.

Prompt:If I were a Mobster…

When? October 21st, 2016

*If you need to, you can post the day after.

Where? On your blog!

Post Ideas: I’m giving you creative freedom to create anything that comes to mind for the prompt: If I were a Mobster. You can share a poem or flash fiction piece about what you imagine yourself doing if you were a mobster.

Or share a detailed profile of your mobster self. This is what I’ll be doing.

Love TWD, especially the earlier seasons. I always thought it was great that Rick already knows how to use weapons, that he takes Morgan and his son to the station where there are more weapons and ammo, etc. And showers. :)

Zombies aren't particularly my thing, though my little brother loves them. He's done some zombie movie scripts for some friends with an indie film production outfit. In October, one of the two indie theatres in my city is doing a lot of zombie films, along with a few other Halloween classics.

Ok, I read the definition of Zombie while Trump Stump was pontificating on the TV. He is a real zombie......describes him to the T. I am so over zombie shows. I just am tired of the zombie crap. If I did write a story I would show the zombies finding cloths, washing off some blood and mud off. Talking about their eventful day slowly walking towards their prey while the prey took off like a light. They sit back and watch TV, like Full House. They have lives too aside from eating flesh...except for Trump.

I don't watch much zombie stuff, but I do read some. I find I can 'believe' it more when it's written, than I can when I watch it. My blood and guts comes more from blowing someone's brains out than eating them. LOLsherry @ fundinmental

I must admit that I'm a pretty big scaredy cat; even authors like R.L. Stine scared me. So I haven't written anything about zombies, but it is interesting that stories about them have become their own genre.

It's apparently because the saliva carries the virus...like rabies. If a zombie's saliva gets into a wound, you become infected. Their blood must not have the virus. Or if it does, it would have to make contact with a wound and not just the skin.

That's a pretty complete list. Whew! I haven't written straight zombies, per say. Honestly, I don't like reading about them either. Watching them is a different story--but only because the hubbs forces me into it. *sigh* The things we do for love, eh?

Goodness! Your list is incredibly concise. I had visions as I read, of some poor old smelly thing learning how to shoot a rifle and hobbling off into the sunset after accidentally obliterating one of his stinky feet!

This is a wonderful list and one that I'll keep for future reference. I do have a zombie story but it's taken a backseat to one I"m doing now. And I do feel that zombies are waaaay over done in pop culture right now. When it begins to fade a bit more, perhaps I'll pull mine out and start working on it again.

All of the above are great things to think about and one of the exact reasons I've never been able to WRITE zombie stuff. A lot of my writing is just my imagination on page...but zombie survival and apocalypse is always so BIG I've never been able to compress it to a single story arc.